More than Blind
by spandexmonkey
Summary: What would happen if someone figured out how to take away what they think is the Titans greatest advantage over crime? --Raven POV--
1. 2

This was an awful idea I had late one evening, and was written at my worst. Also, as I have no beta reader, it's not been beta read. Which means it might suck. I'm not sure... because I only wrote it twenty minutes ago and if I post it i'll be more inclined to re read it later, because other people can now see it.

Review please, and tell me what you think! =D

* * *

Raven woke from her sleep abruptly, with the unnerving feeling that she'd just fallen several meters and landed with a bump. Knowing that this was, rationally speaking, highly unlikely, she forced the thought out of her mind, and turned over to glance around the room. She was fairly certain that something had caused her sudden waking, and wanted to know what.

She surveyed her room from her bedside, and was unable to find anything immediately wrong. Something about the room made her unsettled, though she couldn't place exactly what. Something was off. Different. She decided to get out of bed, and immediately noticed how cold it was. Taking several deep, even breaths to calm her nerves (which were agitated more than she'd care to admit), she reached for her cloak and drew it swiftly around her shoulders. Then she put her boots on, and threw up her hood, before she padded softly to the door.

Placing her hand on the cold steel, she could definitely feel something wrong. Something felt so… off, and she couldn't place exactly what. It disturbed her. She narrowed her eyes and cleared her mind as she silently chanted to focus her energy, and step through the door, to check out the rest of the tower. Moving forwards, she pressed her hand against the steel…

…And felt steel.

Raven frowned, then her eyes widened. She tried again, this time saying her chant in a low voice.

Nothing.

"My powers…" she whispered, barely audible to anyone but herself as she stared at the door. She drew her hand back slowly, and reached across to the door controls. Something felt so wrong. A strong instinct told her to find the other titans.

Moving swiftly through the corridors, Raven found herself becoming more and more frustrated. It wasn't just her room. The entire tower was different. The subtle change wasn't anything she could see or hear or smell or touch, it was… something else. She squashed the frustration automatically, pacing as quickly and silently as she could to the main control room where she intended to use the other Titans communicators to wake them, rather than invade their separate rooms.

She reached her destination shortly, and moved swiftly to the huge Titan computer, her cloak sweeping behind her. Glancing around in a vague state of self-preservation instinct induced paranoia, she began to tap keys rapidly, and created an alarm effect on every communicator but her own.

Robins voice sounded from the device on her cloak immediately. He couldn't have been asleep. One glance at the computer clock told her that it was just after three in the morning, but for some reason, she wasn't all that surprised.

"Trouble?" He asked. One word. Straight to the point. Raven replied.

"Maybe. I'm in the control room," she said, keeping her voice low.

"I'm on my way."

Starfires was the next voice she heard, but it came from the corridor behind her.

"Raven?" Asked the alien girl, walking through shadows past the door, in the corridor. "Is there trouble?" She stepped into the room, her eyes wide. One of her boots wasn't quite done up, and she was hopping a little as she tugged at it. But that wasn't what caught Ravens attention.

Starfires skin, which had always been a kind of… well… _orange_ colour, was pale. Oddly so. Infact… in contrast to her bright red hair…

As Raven stared at her teammate, she realised that Starfire had stopped hopping around in her boot, and was staring back at her.

"…" she said, sounding a little incredulous, and for some reason, eyeing Ravens hair.

Robin entered the room. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, looking at Raven and Starfire with an odd expression on his face. His eyebrows went dangerously far up his forehead.

"What?" Raven asked, partially curious, partially annoyed because she was sure she was missing something. And the weird feeling that the entire tower was wrong… wasn't going anywhere. And she was a little cold.

"This is what the problem was?" He asked, his eyebrows back in a normal position, and looking back at Starfire. It wasn't really a question, realised Raven. But the problem had been her powers. Why was…

Raven blinked. Then she got an idea, and then she hoped she might be wrong. Raven pulled a strand of hair forwards in front of her eyes, and looked at it.

…A strand of _auburn_ hair. Dark auburn. Raven's hair was _purple_. She blinked, then her line of vision moved to look at the hand that had pulled the hair forwards. It was… a yellowy pink. Her knuckles were reddish, and her fingernails were pink and purple. A couple of veins showed under the skin on the back of her hand. She breathed slowly, and cautiously turned her hand over to look at her palm. She brought her other hand up to her face, as well, and stared at them both. Her skin was normally more a shade of grey…

She was about to say something, when her train of thought was interrupted. Rapid footsteps were sounding down the corridor to the control room, and a short boyish figure in a familiar jumpsuit rounded the corner.

Raven stared at the kid, who couldn't be taller than five foot two. His hair was dark and incredibly messy, and he had a suntan. His eyes were wide, and he stared at Starfire, then at Raven, then at Robin. And then he opened his mouth.

"AAAAAAH!" Screamed Beast Boys voice. He started to jump up and down, and waved his arms frantically. Then he stopped, put his hands out in front of him, stared for a moment, and screamed again.

He stopped yelling, and looked around the room desperately at all three of them. Raven was more than a little shocked. She had no idea what to say. She had no idea what was going on. She decided to keep breathing slowly.

"AAH!" Yelled Beast Boy again, gesticulating manically.

Robin was the first one to speak, for the second time.

"Beast Boy!" He said, commandingly. "Calm down!"

The authority seemed to reach Beast Boy. His arms stopped waving.

"Calm down?" He said, in a strained voice. "Calm down?"

"It's okay," Robin continued. "We're going to find out what happened to you guys." He seemed to be looking for something else to say. "Where's Cyborg?"

Raven found her voice. "I messaged him," she said automatically. "His communicator should be waking him up with an alarm."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Cyborg doesn't ignore Titan alarms," he said. "Raven, Beast Boy. Check his room. Starfire and I will run a search for him on the computer."

He turned to the computer, and began tapping in commands. He frowned at the results he got, but Raven was supposed to be looking for her team mate, so she began to hurry past Starfire, and grabbed Beast Boy by the arm to make sure he'd follow.

"Ow," he complained, once they were further down the corridor. He snatched his arm back, and rubbed at it. "You didn't have to grab my arm so hard, you know."

Raven frowned. "Don't milk it," she said. "If I wanted to hurt you, you'd know about it."

"No, seriously," he replied, sounding serious. "That bruised."

Raven looked over at him as they walked, about to tell him that he didn't bruise, and especially not that quickly, when she saw that he was rubbing on his arm and frowning in a way that actually looked pretty real. She looked away quickly, because it was a little weird looking at a Beast Boy with brown hair and no fur. A BB who didn't have odd fangs, who wasn't green…

"Can you still change into animals?" She asked, suddenly, not sure if it was just his appearance that had changed, or if, like her, he'd lost his powers.

"No I can't," he replied quietly, sounding disturbed. He opened his mouth to say something else, but didn't seem to be able to form the words properly. Raven didn't speak again as they kept walking.

When they reached Cyborgs door, Raven halted, and wondered fleetingly if she would rather it was Beast Boy or herself that knocked. Then she mentally growled at herself for being stupid, and raised her hand to knock, four solid times, on the door.

Drawing her hand back, she realised that her knuckles felt sore all of a sudden. She stared at them in disbelief. As well as losing her powers, and changing in appearance, she also seemed to have turned into a… well… a pansy.

"Cyborg?" Called Beast Boy, through the steel. "You in there?" The volume of his voice made her wince.

There was silence for a second, and Raven suddenly began to imagine all the things that could've abducted the robot from the tower while they were sleeping. Her theories came to a welcomed halt as a semi groggy voice answered through the door.

"BB?"

"Yeah," called the no-longer-changeling, sounding a little annoyed. "Get up!"

"Just a mi…" Cyborgs voice cut short. There was a silence for another few seconds. Raven glanced at Beast Boy, who was looking suddenly worried. "Cy?" He called.

"Cy!" He called again, when he received no answer.

"Erm…" Cyborgs voice came through the door. He sounded a little strained. "Maybe… more… than a minute…" His voice trailed off.

"What?" Said Beast boy, loudly. "Is there a problem? And why didn't you answer your communicator?"

"…Ehh…" Cyborg sounded like he was finding something very worrying and amusing all at once. "BB… could you hold on, like… three minutes?"

"What?" Said Beast boy, incredulously.

There was a clanging sound, and no one spoke any more. Beast Boy bounced on his toes. Raven watched a piece of dust float around down by the bottom of the door, illuminated by the corridor night lighting.

A couple of minutes later, Cyborgs door opened. Raven blinked. For some reason, Cyborg was wearing a vanilla suit… or the pants of one. He didn't have any shoes on. Raven stared at his feet. They were… feet. She blinked again, and looked up at the lack of the shirt under the jacket. She couldn't see metal. She could see an athlete's set of pecs and abs, plus a couple of collar bones… but no metal. She swallowed, and told herself not to be surprised.

"Umm…" Cyborg was glancing between Raven and Beast Boy, trying not to stare at either. "Is this what you were trying to send me an alarm about?" He gesticulated at the air between the three of them. Raven didn't wonder what he was talking about.

Something else clicked in her head then. "Your communicator," she said out loud, looking at his arm. "It was… built in."

Cyborg stared at his arm. "Yeah…" he said, blinking. He didn't look horrified like Beast Boy had done. He didn't even look all that shocked. Just sort of… curious, like he was letting it go past, and taking it in his stride. Raven admired that, sort of, she decided. "That's why you didn't get the alarm," she finished.

"Robin and Starfire are waiting in the control room," said Beast Boy, eyeing Cyborg's feet as though they were the most peculiar difference in his appearance.

"Right," said Cyborg again, rubbing the back of his neck as they turned and started walking.

"Cyborg! Beast Boy! Raven!" cried Starfire, as the three Titans walked into the control room.

"…Nice suit," said Robin.

"Yeah, well," said Cyborg, a little darkley. Robin seemed to understand what he was being dark about his outfit. He grinned a little at the no-longer robot, but didn't say anything.

"Robin and I believe we know why this has happened," said Starfire.

Beast Boy turned to stare at her. "Yeah?" He asked. Raven felt his anticipation, but didn't show it.

"Well… think about it," said Robin. "Cyborg's got no weapons or super strength. Raven and Starfires powers don't work at all, and Beast Boy can't change into animals anymore. We're effectively weakened, as a team, to the point of having to rely on what normal people do."

Raven blinked as she realised something.

"So someone took away all our powers…" said Cyborg.

"…But why change the way we look as well?" Asked Beast Boy. "And how come Robin's not affected?"

"It's because he was already human," said Raven.

* * *

Yeeeeah... I need reviews! Go on! Push the button!_ Push the button!_

And before you do, I remind you that you _chose_ to read that chapter ;)


	2. 3

"It's because he was already human."

* * *

A stunned look from Beast Boy greeted Ravens stoic expression. "What?" He said, looking confused.

While Cyborg looked like he was putting two and two together, Robin was nodding. Starfire was stood a little behind him, watching the back of his head, occasionally glancing away to eye her teammates.

"So, effectively, we're suddenly at our weakest," continued Robin. "We need to find out who did this and how, so we can reverse the process. But I'm guessing it won't be hard."

"If they think they've taken away our defences…" began Cyborg, "…as well as our weapons…" Beast Boy continued;

"…Then they'll be out causing trouble in the city," finished Raven, "and they won't care who sees them, because they'll assume that there's no one there who can stop them."

"Right," said Robin. "They shouldn't be too hard to find," he finished, grimly.

"But I still don't get it!" Said Beast Boy suddenly. "Why doesn't Robin have no powers?"

"Because I was _already_ human," Robin repeated Ravens previous words. Beast Boy stared at him.

"So?"

"How can you turn someone human when that is what they were already?" Asked Star, rhetorically, meaning it as an explanation.

Beast Boys eyes widened as his mind reluctantly clicked, and he took a subconscious step backwards. "Are you saying," he said, looking at the rest of the group sideways from under the thick, brown, messed up hair, that Raven still found a little unnerving, "that we haven't… _just_ lost our powers and changed appearances?"

"Somebody somehow has managed to turn us all into regular human teenagers," said Cyborg. He stared at the youngest Titan. "Why does being human matter so much to you anyway?"

The recipient of the question seemed to shrink back for a second, in Ravens perception. Then he seemed to relax, and he automatically moved his foot back forwards again. His body language lost most of its tension, though she eyed him a little longer anyway.

"It's just weird, I guess," he said, laughing slightly. He raised an eyebrow at Robin. "You were really all human?" he asked.

"Still am," replied the boy wonder.

Beast Boy frowned. "How come you're so bendy and indestructible?"

Robin shrugged. "I train," he said. A though seemed to strike him then. But Starfire spoke first.

"We must alert the policing forces," she said. "They should know of our… position, before they call on us and realise that we are four Titan's unhelpful."

Robin nodded. "Good idea," he said. "I'll do that. The rest of you may as well go back to bed," he added, eyeing the computer clock. "Human bodies function more effectively when they get better sleep." He moved over to the computer, and began tapping various keys.

Cyborg chuckled. "Right," he said, grinning at the Boy Wonders back. "See y'all in the _real_ morning then. I've gotta get me some sheets," he muttered to himself, as he exited the room in his vanilla suit.

Raven watched him go, and then left silently, followed closely by Starfire. Beast Boy lingered behind them.

Upon reaching her room, Raven didn't speak to her two companions as she slid open the door, and hit the close button behind her. Once the door was shut, she blinked a couple of times, and looked around her room.

She now realised that being fully human meant quite a change in environmental perception for her. The 'wrong' feeling about her room and the tower had simply been a lack of half a demon in her DNA making her world seem strange. There were fewer colours… but more _colours_. Bookshelves seemed to look different, but were at the same time the same. Everything was less animated, but held more… substance. Or something. She shook her head, still unused to the perception, but fast adapting to it.

She looked at her bed, and knew that she wouldn't be able to get to sleep, human body or no. She'd been half human up until now, she could handle a night of missed dreams. Eyeing the meditation mirror on the small desk near the end of her bed, she decided to explore her new… position, as Starfire had put it, more fully.

* * *

Her mind was just the same, she found, as she landed on the cold stone rock. She walked, crossing through the stone archway, noting the lack of blackbirds. It didn't worry her so much, as feel a little… odd there, without them.

Through the archway, she found the 'happy' land. Strangely, there was no spectrum self anywhere to be seen. The trees seemed a little different… nothing huge had changed here though. She continued through to the maze of her timid colour's territory. There was no spectrum of herself here, either. She didn't call upon her personality aspects, preferring to work through the maze on foot until she reached the archway of 'brave'. The brave lands were barren, but solid, and strong looking. Being here made her feel strong, but at the same time, made her feel weak with a kind recklessness and desire to fight. She moved on quickly, and came to the archway she was the most curious about.

Anger. Crossing over the threshold to the barren wasteland, blackened skies, gullies, cracks and sharp rocks, she passed a couple of wilted things lying at the gate side. Things from her imagination. Things anger would create. They were everywhere in here, though the space that bound this spectrum of her personality was the smallest her trained mind would allow. She walked forwards, and called, slightly apprehensively, to her anger.

A deep red cape appeared in front of her, covering a form she recognized as her own. Raven stood back, and the figure turned around. The hood was removed, and Raven ground her teeth as she recognized her face as what she must look like to the other Titans in her human form. No four red eyes. No raging black aura.

…No powers.

Anger was still anger, but human. Staring at her, she saw the form of herself, showing her what anger really was when it didn't have demon power to destroy its counter personalities, to break from it's imaginary prison and take her over inside out.

Raven took a step backwards, shut her eyes, and found herself back on her bedroom floor. She'd gone as far as she wanted to. She'd seen her anger. She'd seen issues she wasn't ready to deal with in it's eyes, face, body language… she knew what made it so powerful with her powers, but she wasn't ready to go there. Not today.

She took a good number of deep breaths to calm herself, and felt oddly at ease. Standing up, she placed the mirror carefully back on the table, and moved to open the curtains.

The run was rising. She estimated the time to be around six ten, given the time of year, and decided that it was time enough to have some herbal tea.

* * *

"So, we got a plan?" Asked Cyborg, in the same vanilla suit, over his eggs, bacon and sausage breakfast.

Beast Boy scowled at Cyborgs plate, but said nothing as he chewed his tofu.

"I've alerted the mayor and the head of police to our situation," said Robin, over a bowl of something that looked like orange oatmeal. He picked up a spoonful, and let it drip down to his bowl, eyeing it. "What did you call this again Star?" He asked, stirring it.

"On my planet, we call it the 'Morning feast for the Active.' The ingredients are such prepared that it should encourage strength and agility in your activities today." Said Star, stirring up the last bit of her own identical bowl of mush. "Except we had no glorthnorgs, or mornags, or a morthball-cutler, so I used 'oatmeal' and milk and…" She looked in thought for a second, then a lightbulb brightened over her head. "Carrots!" She finished beaming, and swallowed the last bit in her bowl.

Robin frowned curiously at the cereal, then shrugged. "It's pretty good," he said, grinning, and devouring more.

Starfire beamed. Beast Boy and Cyborg blinked. Raven, who was sat at the end of the table, sipped more of her tea.

"So…" she said, "_do_ we have a plan?"

Robin finished his orange oatmeal, and set the bowl and spoon down. "Actually, yes…" he said.

Dododododododododo! The bleeped on his wrist watch suddenly tuned. He flipped it open, and looked at the message.

"…But I'll have to fill you in later," he finished, snapping the watch shut as he jumped up. He opened his mouth, and then stopped. "I'll be back soon," he said instead, leaping over the table, and grabbing his retracted bo staff as he swept out of the room.

"Ehh…" said Cyborg, staring after him. "We could've gone too."

"Robin wouldn't have gone like that unless he was certain he could deal with it alone," said Starfire, and began stacking the bowls. She took Cyborgs plate, and then Beast Boys, and piled them next to the sink.

"Whatever," mumbled Cyborg. Then he brightened. "Hey, non mechanics don't stay in shape on their own," he said. "I'm gonna go test this thing out in the gym," he said, stretching out his arms, and getting up. "Anyone coming, or are y'all gonna sit around and get weedy?" He beamed at Beast Boy, who opened his mouth in protest.

"I am not weedy!" He exclaimed, holding out a jump suited arm and poking at it. Sinewy muscles were visible through the fabric.

"Yeah, but now you're human, you soon will be if you don't get in the gym every once in a while," said Cyborg seriously. "We gotta keep in shape man, we don't have mechanical and animal metabolism advantages."

Beast Boy blinked at him. "But… I never had to work out before!" He said.

"No, you just ran around in animal forms all day," explained Cyborg. "Whoever made us all human did it to make us weak. Prove 'em wrong!"

"I'm going to the gym," announced Raven, on a sudden whim. "I want to test this bodies abilities, find its strengths. And weaknesses."

She looked at her hands, and then got up and started walking out of the room, when she paused.

"Erm…" she said, looking back at Cyborg. "We do have stuff I can wear in there?"

Starfire stepped forwards. "I believe Ravens idea is good," she said, "I shall test my new limits also. Robin keeps training clothes in open lockers outside the gymnasium," she informed Raven. "I will show you."

She walked forwards, and pulled Raven by the arm, and they left the kitchen swiftly, walking towards the elevator. Once inside, she hit the button to take them to one of the uppermost floors of the tower, where the huge gymnasium was situated.

"I understand why we would need to change our clothes to train now," said Starfire. Raven stared at her skin. It wasn't as pale as she'd first thought, in the elevator light; a couple of freckles were visible. Her hair had changed colour slightly too – instead of a shocking pink-red, it was now gingerier. Unusual, but definitely human. "But I have something I wish to ask you."

Raven looked at her expectantly.

Starfire blinked and continued. "May we go shopping?"

Raven thought about it. "Why and when?" She asked.

"To celebrate our human bodies," said Starfire, beaming, "and may we go after this noon?"

Raven thought some more, and shrugged. Why not.

"Why not," she said.

The elevator doors slid open, and the girls walked out to find themselves in a small corridor with only one door. The door was open.

"Over here," said Starfire, walking over to a row of shelving. She reached up, and tugged on something on the top shelf, then frowned and tugged a little harder.

A huge pile of blue sweat pants fell on top of her, and Starfire squeaked from under the pile. Raven cracked a smirk despite herself. It wasn't, she realised, like finding something amusing, was risking killing the lighting anymore.

Star made a couple of muffled struggling noises under the pile, and Raven remembered that without her alien strength, she was probably finding it a little uncomfortable. She pulled a number of items away from where she supposed star was. A red headed annoyed looking face jumped up through a gap.

Star ground her teeth and growled, then ground her teeth some more, then her fece relaxed and she smiled. "I have found us clothing," she announced, grinning up at the other girl.

"... Yeah," said Raven. She picked up a pair of pants cautiously, and discovered they were, in fact, shorts. "Are these all Robins?" She asked, for a second horribly reminded of her gym session in Mad Mods horror house.

Starfire shrugged. "I think they are for every one. But we have never needed to use them." She struggled out of the pile. When she was free, she flexed her arms experimentally, and eyes her forearms. "I see humans are fairly weak," she said, a little sadly. "But it will be interesting to learn how their strength increases with training," she added, rotating her elbows and noting the effects of the experience.

Raven didn't say anything, as she picked up a tee. It was going to be odd, 'training', and wearing something other than her uniform. These clothes were standard Titan issue though, so it wasn't too peculiar. She looked around for somewhere to change. Starfire seemed to be thinking about the same thing, when she spoke.

"Where do we change our clothing?" She wondered aloud.

Raven shrugged, and looked around the corner. "I guess…" she found another door, and pushed it open. It was a shower room. "In here?" She asked, and walked in without waiting for a reply.

Starfire came through the door behind her, with her own shorts and tee, and looked around, sat down on a counter, and began pulling off her boots.

Raven realised that she'd not only never worn anything other than her uniform in front of the other Titans before, but she'd also never had to get changed. She glanced at Star, who was had one boot off and was fumbling with the other. It was just like… high school locker rooms, she decided. Her and Star were both girls anyway, so it shouldn't… _didn't_… matter.

She started undoing the clasp on her cloak.

* * *

"And _these_ are the little weights," said Cyborg. "Try the four kilo weights first. You don't know what that body is capable of, yet."

Beast Boy picked up a couple of four-kilo hand weights, after studying the chart on the wall. He knew about muscle training, but he'd never really had to do it himself before, and he also knew the importance of doing such things properly.

Cyborg, having finished his BB-tour of the gym, went to the bench, adjusted the weights, and started pressing sets. Starfire watched him curiously from the treadmill she was sat at the side of.

The girls had come out of the changing rooms to realise that they were going to need trainers to wear. They'd gone on a gym-wide hunt that had led them to a closet full of old training shoes, and by the time they'd managed to find some that fitted, Beast Boy and Cyborg were already in the gym, warming up with some basketball down at the hoops.

Cy had explained to Star and Raven the importance of a cardio warm up, and so the girls had gone to inspect the treadmills. Starfire was more enthusiastic, and wished to see how far and fast she could travel on foot before she because weary, but Raven had stood and helped her work the controls. Cyborg had then decided that Raven was going to play basketball, and twenty minutes later, Starfire had stopped running, was covered in sweat, and trying not to drink all of the water she'd found at the side of the court. Raven was also fairly sweaty and out of breath. She could feel the endorphins from the exercise coursing around her body though, and realised why some humans enjoyed the sport so much. Cyborg and Beast Boy were a little sweaty, but Beast Boy had wanted to try out some of the weights, to test his strength after a warming game. Cyborg had given him a tour of the resistance equipment, and Beast boy had ended up deciding to start on the least complicated and breakable, the hand weights.

It was quarter of an hour until ten o'clock, and Starfire decided that she wanted to test her strength next.

She walked up to one of the benches. Raven noticed, and followed her. Starfire counted the weights on the sides of the bar. They added up to nearly sixty kilos. She took twenty off, and decided to start there. Raven hastily stopped her as she lay down and got a grip on the bar.

"Maybe you should start a little lower," she guessed, and re adjusted the weights to something more like sixteen kilos. Starfire lifted the bar, and cried out in surprise. She gritted her teeth as she raised it back up, and Raven helped her set it back onto the bar.

"Owwww…" Starfire pulled a face and circled her arms. "This body has some odd limitations."

"Maybe we should call it a day," suggested Raven, "and come back and do some more tomorrow."

Starfire nodded. "I must wash," she commented, wrinkling her nose up. She looked at Raven. "And so must you," she observed.

"Yep," said Raven, waiting while the other girl got off the bench.

"Heh, Raven's smelly," called Beast Boy. He grinned at her teasingly.

Raven raised her eyebrows, then stopped. She'd been about to use her powers to smack him around the head with the weight he was using… then she remembered. She had no powers.

"As are we all," said Starfire, standing up and stretching out. She leaned her head over to look at Cyborg, who was finishing his last set. "Cyborg, I fully enjoyed 'working out'. We shall repeat tomorrow?"

The not-robot grunted as he lifted the bar, and set it back on its holder. He sat up, exhaled, and picked up a towel and a drinks bottle at the end of the bench.

"Sure we will Star," he said, grinning. "Hey BB, you wanna warm down with some more basketball?"

"Ah, sure," said the no-longer-green-dude. He finished his own set, and stretched out his arms. "See you later," he waved at the departing girls.

Raven pushed open the shower room door, and walked straight into one of the cubicles.

* * *

End of chapter two!!! I still want reviews. Now. Please. =)


	3. 5

"Raven?" Asked the ex-alien girl, as the staggered over the doorframe that made the ground floor entrance to Titans Tower.

"Yes?" Replied Raven.

"My arms hurt," finished Starfire, in an uncharacteristic moment of complaint.

"Mine too," agreed Raven. Her arms did hurt. So did her torso. And her feet, and her legs…

"And I am hungry."

Raven nodded in agreement. They hustled over to the elevator, and simultaneously dropped their bags. Raven pushed a button. The doors slid shut.

"I have not felt this hungry since my mother informed me that Blackfire and I would undergo Partharg, and were forbidden to eat for three planetary rotations."

"Partharg."

"The ritual of Lipping. No, that cannot sound right, the ritual of… sisterly… err…"

Starfires stomach interrupted her with a loud growl. She blushed. "I am very hungry," she summarised.

The elevator doors slid open. Raven reached down and picked up her bags. She grasped a hold of seven of them, and dribbled the last one out with her feet. Starfire was having some trouble with hers, but had managed to arrange them in a stack, by which means she could transport all nine at once. The drawback to this was, that the bag tower covered her face, and she couldn't see where she was going.

"Need some help with that?"

Had Raven not trained herself never to do so, she would've jumped at the sound of a voice belonging to someone she hadn't thought was there.

Apparently, Starfire did jump though, because there was a rustling kind of crashing noise, and when Raven dumped all her bags next to the sofa in the Titans rec. room, she turned to be greeted with the sight of a very unstable looking Starfire, who's feet were currently surrounded by shopping.

Robin, who was stood to the side, looked sheepish. Then he eyed the bags.

"Cyborg told me you went to the mall," he said. "He didn't tell me you were planning on bringing most of it back."

Starfires stomach growled again. "I must eat!" She proclaimed, somewhat desperately.

Much as she disliked admitting it, Ravens stomach was informing her in no subtle way that she too was incredibly hungry. She growled inwardly, and decided that severe amounts of shopping after basketball with no proper lunch break, was probably not such a good idea with a human body after all. Apparently, demons were naturally stronger and more able to cope with such things, because she'd never wanted dinner so much after shopping before. She stood up.

"I'll go make a pizza," she said, and walked a little quicker than usual into the kitchen. She opened the freezer, pulled out a large mozzarella, and was about to use her powers to open it when she remembered that she had to do everything manually now. She glared momentarily at the pizza box, as though it was the one at fault here, and immediately squashed the tiny spark of misplaced anger and berated herself for feeling it. She sighed, and levelled out her mind again.

Then she paused, and thought.

An idea struck her. It made her feel like a child about to do something naughty. She looked at the pizza box sideways, her hunger, for a second, forgotten. She turned it over, carefully, looking for the 'open here' sign. She took a breath in, and a breath out. And then, in a complete juxtaposition to her previous careful treatment of the box, she tore the 'open here' sign off, ripping all down one side of the packaging, then she yanked the frozen pizza out of it's cave, dropped it ungracefully on the sideboard, and threw the mangled pizza box across the room. She scowled at it as it bounced off a chair, feeling angry at it for her lack of powers, and her sore feet, and… her growling stomach.

Raven blinked, and looked around cautiously, half expecting to see something awry with the kitchen. Her anger had only been small, and somewhat playful in nature, but it had still been a somewhat unrestrained emotion. Her emotions evened out again automatically this time, and she didn't try and rearrange them.

She blinked again, as she realised suddenly, that nothing had happened. She still felt like she'd gone and done something naughty, and she also felt the tiny bits of adrenaline that were making her heart beat just a tiny bit faster. Raven considered doing something else emotional… perhaps laughing triumphantly at the box. Then she felt a stupid, and remembered about the pizza she was going to cook, and turned around to turn on the oven.

Starfire had sidled into the kitchen at some point. Raven knew this, because Starfire was standing next to the oven, looking at the box. Raven was incredibly glad she wasn't inclined to jump at surprises for the second time – after always having known when someone was stood behind her, or when someone was in a room she was walking into, due to her powers and demon senses, it was quite disconcerting to suddenly realise someone had been stood right behind you for at least two minutes without you realising.

Raven ignored Starfires presence in an attempt to get over the surprise, and switched the oven on high. She reached across for the pizza, removed the see-through wrapper, and threw it in without waiting for the oven to properly heat up.

Then she walked past Starfire to go and look in the fridge while she was waiting.

"Raven… are you okay?"

Raven nodded, and picked out a bottle of iced water. She was not going to be ruled by her stomach. She was going to wait for the pizza to be cooked. She did not take orders from bodily organs, when they were clearly weak and only protesting because she'd done more exercise than usual.

"Nothing is… wrong?"

Raven shook her head, and leaned against the counter to drink.

Starfire eyed Raven, then the fridge.

"May I have some of your water please?"

Raven swallowed half of the bottle, enjoying the momentary false full feeling, and hoped it would last until the pizza was done. She capped the bottle, and tossed it to Starfire, who thanked her, and drank the rest, then put the empty bottle down on the counter top.

They stood in silence for a second. Then Ravens stomach growled again. Star's stomach growled in return. Both girls dived for the fridge, and began to sort randomly through the contents. Raven pulled out a bag of chopped carrots, while Starfire grabbed a tofu stick and some mustard.

Then they sat on the floor, and started munching.

---

"So, you're sure they were only small fry?" Said Cyborg, his mouth full of pizza. This evening, he was wearing a pair of Hawaiian shorts and a grey shirt, Raven observed.

Robin nodded, and swallowed his own mouthful. "Positive. All it was was a bad attempt at a jewellery heist. I wrapped them up in a couple minutes, and the police handled it from there." He shrugged.

"So… why'd you get a call about it?" Asked Beast Boy, trying to work out which was the bigger out of the two slices left. He selected the one on the left.

"I have no idea," replied the Boy Wonder. "I guess they did have a couple of fancy weapons. But they didn't really know how to use them, and they weren't exactly experts in robbery either, by the looks of it."

Starfire leaned back. "I am full," she said happily. "Although now I am thirsty. Would any one like a drink?" She got up.

"Could you get us a soda?" Asked Beast Boy, finishing the last bit of his pizza slice.

Starfire beamed, and left for the kitchen.

"Thanks!" He called, after her.

Cyborg frowned, smirking, at her back. "I'd have thought she would be full, after six mini rolls, a bottle of mustard, and two six person pizzas."

Raven pulled a face at him. "You try running around the mall all afternoon with six kilos of shopping on each arm," she said, defending her and Starfires possibly excessive snacking that afternoon.

"Yes," said Robin, "What _did_ you buy?"

"Clothing and gifts," answered Starfire, re-joining the table with a tray full of sodas. She beamed, and cracked open a can.

"Gifts?" Said Beast Boy, with a raised eyebrow.

Raven pulled over a can of soda. "You'll see," she said.

---

"You got me some shoes?" Said Cyborg.

"Size thirteen's," said Raven.

Cyborg opened the box, and pulled out a pair of dark sneakers, with little white 'TT''s all over the black laces.

"Awesome," he exclaimed. Starfire pulled something else out of a bag, and handed it to him. "Socks!" He continued, enthusiastically. He looked at the girls. "Thanks!" He said. "BB, I no longer have to borrow your footwear," he announced, handing the ex-changeling a pair of bright green socks.

"Alright!" Said Beast Boy. "More socks for me."

"How'd you know I was a size thirteen?" Said the ex-robot, eyeing the girls.

"Lucky guess," Raven said, trying not to be distracted by the Hawaiian shorts.

"For Beast Boy," said Star, brightly, changing the subject.

Beast Boy opened his bag cautiously, and started routing through the wrappers. He pulled out a box, and looked at it curiously. "Green… " His eyes widened. "You guys got me green hair dye?"

"Of the permanent variety," said Raven.

"With ammonia," added Starfire, "to allow the dye to better penetrate your hairs follicles and produce a more vibrant permanent green colour." She eyed his hair. "Because green would unlikely show up in hair as dark as yours has coloured without an effective component such as ammonium."

Robin stared at her. "How do you know so much about hair dye?" He asked, suspiciously.

Starfire smiled dazzlingly. "Yours is not the only planet to use such colour altering substances," she said. "Although the dyes from my home world are a little different."

Raven felt like giggling or something. She had no idea why, though, so she didn't. She reached for another bag, and threw it at Beast Boy, who dropped the dye packet, and turned it upside down to reveal the contents.

"Grand master of doomed filled alien monsters from the depths of hell version III!" He yelled, waving it around.

"We figured you might like that," said Raven.

"Just wait till I kick your un-metal ass on _this_!" He exclaimed, happily, waving the game around in front of Cyborg.

Raven smirked. Starfire reached behind her for another bag, and presented its contents to Robin.

"We did not wish to leave you out, so we brought you a gift," said Starfire. Robin looked at the bag, and shook it a little as if to try and discover its contents. "You may not wish to open it until you are alone, though."

Cyborg and Beast Boy pulled identical sweat-dropping faces.

Robin shrugged. "Okay," he said. "Thanks." He smiled at Starfire and Raven.

"Oh, don't thank me," muttered Raven. "That," she gestured to the bag, "is from Star. But you do have one of these," she said, and held something else out to him.

He held it up and squinted at it. Then he pushed a button. Water squirted from the centre of the watch, which he dodged. He pressed another button, and a Swiss army knife collection of gadgets popped out of the side.

"… They sell these at the mall?" He asked.

"Not exactly," said Starfire. "But we saw one on the way back to the tower, and decided you deserved another gift."

Robin grinned. "Thank you," he said. Then he attached the watch to himself.

"Does anyone know how to dye hair?" Said Beast Boy. "Can we do that now?"

"Uhh… count me out," said Cyborg, grinning. "I've got a date with a certain beautiful set of wheels, and I'm not standing her up to help you spruce."

Beast Boy stared at him. "Whatever, man. Just remember that's a _car_ you're talking about."

Cyborg shrugged, grinning.

"I shall help you, Beast Boy!" said Starfire. "Would you like to subject your hair to the ammonium now?"

"Yay!" Said the youngest titan. "Let's go!"

He jumped up, obviously incredibly excited at the prospect of having green hair again. Cyborg stood up also.

"You have fun now," he said to Beast Boy and Starfire. "I'm gonna go work on the T car." He cracked his knuckles, and started trekking for the elevator.

"Want some company?" Raven found herself asking.

Cyborg paused, and turned. "Sure," he said, grinning. Raven grinned back, and got up to follow him. They stood in the elevator, and as Cyborg pressed the button, the doors slid shut.

* * *

_Sorry... that felt kind of short. And also sorry for the spelling mistakes I make! I think there were about three in the last chapter, but since I can't ever seem to see them when I re read, there's probably the same amount hiding out in this one._

_Review me still, and i'll love you :D_


	4. 7

Raven woke up feeling a little cold. She tried to roll over and pull on the duvet, and crashed into something that definitely was not a blanket. She poked it irritably, and scowled. Then she opened her eyes, and found her face three inches away from a randomly strewn tyre with a large, shiny, 'T' embossed on the hubcap.

Her eye twitched, and she tried to find out where she was. Her brain reminded her that she couldn't do that with no powers _without_ taking the effort to sit up and look around, and she scowled more at the tyre.

There was a loud yawning sound behind her, followed by a popping noise. Raven shuddered at the sound of neck joints stretching out, and then sat up and saw the T-car and remembered that she was in the garage.

"…Umm…" came Cyborgs voice.

Raven sat up, and several things slid down off the side of the pile of – she pulled an oily rag out from under one leg and blinked at it – apparently soft materials that she'd gone to sleep on. Shifting around, one hand rubbed at her eyes, which were annoyingly sleepy still, and the other held her balance as she swivelled to look at Cyborg, who had apparently been asleep on the service tray, using an old tee shirt as something of a pillow.

"…I think it's about time for breakfast!" Announced the ex-robot, cheerfully. He stretched his arms out in front of him, and clicked a vertebra.

Raven stared at him, and grinned. Mentally, that was. She sat up properly, and slid off the pile. Then she noticed her stiff neck.

"…Ow," she commented, rolling her head experimentally.

"Yeah, that's what you get for sleeping in the garage," sighed Cyborg, and he sat up. The tray rolled a few inches forwards as he did so. He stood up and then beamed at Raven who had began to stretch out her trapezium muscle set, finding them to be just as stiff as the top of her neck. "I haven't slept in a garage in years," he muttered, happily.

Raven was about to say something, and then she realised that the reason he hadn't slept in a garage in years, was probably because he'd needed to recharge every night instead of get regular sleep.

"Well," she said instead, "I think you were right about breakfast."

She poked her stomach, annoyed, after the amount she'd had the previous afternoon, she hadn't expected to be hungry for a couple of days at least. "Are regular humans supposed to need to eat this much?"

"What, you mean three meals a day?" Said Cyborg, grinning. "Yeah. We can't substitute _tea_ for good food, like you can."

"I'm sure I ate more than three meals worth yesterday." Raven scowled.

The ex-robot shrugged. "You'll get used to it," he said. Then he eyed her for a minute. "So… you're finding it weird being so hungry?"

Raven looked at him, and then replied. "I never realised it would be that… different…" she trailed off uncharacteristically, and then shrugged. "I guess now I understand why you guys are so enthusiastic about food."

"Weird," said Cyborg, looking thoughtful. He gestured to the elevator. "You coming?" He said. Raven nodded, and the doors slid shut as they rose up to the rec. room floor.

TTT

"Dude," said Beast Boy, when he saw them. "You really like cars, huh."

Raven noticed that his hair was now a more usual shade of bright green, almost similar to his natural colour. It didn't strike her as odd that she was relieved to see the green hair again instead of brown… seeing the youngest titan with brown hair had actually been very odd.

"What gave you that idea?" Said Cyborg, sarcastically. He grinned good-naturedly.

Beast Boy stared at Raven instead of answering the rhetorical question. "I don't think I've ever seen you so dirty before," he said, sounding somewhat in awe. "What were you _doing_?"

Raven frowned and looked down at herself. She was wearing an old tee shirt with the sleeves rolled up, over the top of her usual outfit minus the cape. The tee was covered in oil, as were her legs. She guessed that there was probably a bit on her face. But it wasn't that bad…

"Um," said Cyborg, "we were fixing the car?"

Raven wondered if there was something on her and she didn't realise. She pulled off the tee shirt and held it up, and turned it around, to check.

"Fixing the car by rolling in dirt?"

Nope, nothing she hadn't already noticed on the tee. Maybe it was something on her face?

"Beast Boy, do you have any idea what's involved in working on a car?"

Raven rubbed at her face with the back of her hand, because her palms were also a little dirty.

"No, but… Raven, what are you doing?"

Raven paused at the mention of her name. She'd been in the process of lifting one leg in front of her to check for the giant piece of dirt she was sure that she was missing. "Checking for the giant piece of dirt that I'm sure that I'm missing," she replied, frowning as she saw that as far as she could tell, there was nothing else on this leg, either.

"…What giant piece of dirt?" said Cyborg, raising an eyebrow and frowning all at once.

Raven blinked. "Beast Boy said I was covered in dirt…?"

"Which you _are_," the green haired teen assured her.

"He just means that you're not sparkly clean," said Cyborg, looking at her strangely. "Let's eat some breakfast."

"Oh, right!" Said Beast Boy, happily. "I made tofu…"

"No!" Cyborg cut him off. "I'm eating a proper breakfast, thank you very much."

Raven had seen that particular argument enough times to be able to lip sync along to it, so she walked straight past the tofu vs meat discussion about to happen, and into the kitchen.

Robin and Starfire were sat at the table. Starfire was eyeing a large pink glass, that Raven deduced was probably milkshake, with no small amount of caution.

"It's just milk and powder," said Robin. "Not… radish-thatch… or whatever it's called."

"Rargnarksarthrax," corrected Starfire, absently. "Are you _certain_ that this is safe to consume?" She asked eyeing it from the side.

"Would I let you drink it if I thought there was a chance it wasn't? Hey Raven," he added, waving at the teen.

"Hey," she returned, browsing through breakfast cereals, and feeling slightly overwhelmed by the amount of sugar she was considering at… she glanced at the clock on the wall… eight thirty in the morning.

"Hello Raven," said Starfire. "Tell me, have _you_ tried this… milk-shake?"

"Nope," said Raven, deciding that her safest option for now was toast. She went to put some bread in the toaster. She could experiment with breakfast cereals tomorrow, maybe.

"If you don't want to drink it, that's fine, but you'll be missing out," said Robin, shrugging.

Starfire screwed her eyes shut, and put her lips around the straw to take a tentative sip. She swallowed, and kept her eyes shut a moment longer, and then opened one, to check that the world was still the same, and beamed.

"Robin you were correct!" She said, gesturing with her hands to emphasise her thankfulness.

"Yep," said Robin, nodding. "And that's a raspberry milkshake."

Starfire began to suck more up through the straw, with much enthusiasm.

Ravens toast popped out of the toaster after an oddly short amount of time. But as Raven had never really used a toaster before, she didn't know this, and plucked both pieces from the mini oven to put them on a plate. She picked one up, and began to chew.

"So," said Robin. "Any plans today?"

Raven decided he wouldn't have asked unless there was something he would rather they all did. So she didn't say anything, and carried on chewing her toast.

"Good," said Robin, taking the silence as a 'no', like Raven figured he would. "I had an idea…"

'Dododododododododo!" The bleeper on his wristwatch went off. Robin looked irritated for a second, and then he flipped it open, and read quickly.

"This just looks like a repeat of yesterday," he said to himself, frowning.

"Yo," said Cyborg, entering the kitchen at the sound of the alarm. "Want us to come with?"

Robin looked unsure. "Well…" he said, "I'm not sure there'd be anything you could do, to be honest."

"Aww, come on! I can drive the car," he coaxed. "And we can load up with laser guns and stuff."

Robin thought about it for a moment. "It might be a good idea to take back up, just in case," he said. "But put some armour on, and take weapons."

Cyborg beamed. "Alright!" he said, and sprinted off to arm himself. "Yeah!" Said Beast Boy, and jumped after him. Raven finished chewing in a leisurely manner, and then dropped her toast… and then realised that she couldn't teleport. Her eyes widened. "Hey, guys, wait up!" she called, breaking in to a run.

TTT

Two minutes later the four newly human titans were buckling up in the T car, and Robin was swerving out of the garage on the R cycle.

"We're headed to the west of town," came Robins voice through the dashboard. "Sending you the coordinates now."

Cyborg eyed the display screen. "Roger that," he said, pushing a couple buttons. The car sped into high gear, and zoomed after the R cycle. Robin was a fair way ahead of them, and reached the crime scene first.

By the time Cyborg and the others had arrived, the Boy Wonder was already inside the jewellery store. The remaining Titans jumped out of the vehicle, and ran into the store.

Two young looking guys were stood at the counter, wielding sacks, balaclavas, and 10mm Auto GLOCKS Power-Plus auto-pistols.

Robin was crouched at the other end of the store, bo staff extended.

"What the hell?" Said one of the guys, waving the pistol precariously between Robin and the other Titans, his eyes looking confused through the holes in the mask.

"I dunno," said the other, also male, somewhat shakily. "I though we weren't supposed to have to deal with the Titans after…" his voice got quieter and quieter, until they he trailed off in a worried sounding whisper.

Beast Boy was goggling at the pistols.

"Dude," he said, "Why do these guys have guns? WHO IN JUMP CITY HAS A GUN?"

"What do you mean, after…?" said Robin, in a scarily Batman like voice.

"…Uhh…" said the first guy, staring between Robin and the other Titans still. "…Um, stay back!" He cried, sounding suddenly inspired, "Or I shoot!"

"Heh," said Cyborg. "Like that's gonna do any good." He moved forwards suddenly, and slammed the nearest crook against the counter, using his full body weight. "Guns down," he said, snatching the robbers armed wrist in a vice grip.

The second crooks eyes widened, in fear or something else, and Robin leapt forwards and smacked him around the head with the bo staff. It hit him solid in the forehead, and he fell to the floor. There was a gun shot sound, and the woman behind the counter screamed.

Another shot rang from the pistol of the guy Cyborg was holding back. Raven wished more than ever that she had her powers, as a glass case high up on the wall smashed and fell down. She found her hand coming up into a fist, and she growled mentally. The crook struggled against the x-robots hold, and then Robin turned and wacked him in the left temple with his staff. The crook cried out as he went limp, and Cyborg dropped him.

Then he bent down and hastily picked up the gun, pulling it apart and dropping the pieces and individual bullets onto the counter. The woman behind it was shaking. Robin pulled out his communicator and paged the chief of police.

Raven moved forwards and picked up the second guys gun, also disarming it. She couldn't help feeling a little useless. Cyborg had done all the work, along with Robin. Herself, Starfire and Beast Boy hadn't really done a thing. She pulled the gun apart with a little more force than necessary, and dropped it on the counter. She noticed the woman, and decided that she was going to make herself useful, and do something.

"It's okay," she said, "the police are on their way."

The woman had her hand on her chest and was breathing a little erratically.

"It's all over," she added, just to confirm it.

The woman leant on one arm on the counter, and started to calm herself down a little. Then she looked up at Raven.

"…Thank you," she said, and Raven could hear the genuine gratitude in her voice. "…Who _are_ you?" She asked, looking up at her still.

Raven was taken aback. The woman… didn't recognize her as a Titan. She was wearing her costume, although she had the hood down for some reason.

Robin spoke up. "We're the Teen Titans, ma'am," he said, putting his communicator away.

The woman looked around. "You have some new members?" She asked.

Raven looked around, and then realised that in three days, she'd gone and forgotten how different everyone (minus, of course, Robin) looked. She had a sudden urge to put her hood up. She decided it was because not being recognized for someone with powers was making her… she didn't want to think it, but it was making her come across as weak. She wasn't used to people _not_ knowing that she could control everything with eight syllables, but putting up her hood would cover her hair and face, and her cloak would hide the pale pink skin that was now her legs.

She didn't put her hood up, in a subconscious decision to prove that, human or no, she was Raven. And she was not weak.

"Not new," Robin replied, eventually. Looking around, it seemed that the rest of the group was taken aback by the question as she had been. "Just different."

The sound of sirens interrupted whatever the woman had been about to say next, and as the police came in to take the crooks away, Raven hurried out of the door to where the car was. She slid into the passenger seat, and looked down at her legs. Then she looked out of the windscreen, and crossed her legs and folded her arms as the other three Titans got into the car.


	5. 11

Upon returning to the tower, Raven made a decision. And then she realised that she probably was about to have a lot of work to do.

"Cyborg," she said, as the rest of the team trailed into the rec. room. Beast Boy headed for the kitchen, she idly noted.

The older teen turned around. "Yeah?" He said, sounding a little surprised.

"We need to talk about training." Straight to the point, as always. Raven hung back by the elevator door as she waited, and absently wondered if she'd ever master the business of small talk.

Cyborg swivelled completely. "Training?" He said.

"Yes," said Raven. "I require your knowledge and assistance in devising a training routine that will make, me, at least, slightly more useful…" and only because Cyborg had known her so long did he catch, what counted for Raven as, her screwing up her face, "… than this."

He eyed her for a moment, and seemed to be considering. Raven waited somewhat patiently.

"You're serious?" He asked, after a moment.

Raven wondered whether he'd meant that to sound more rhetorical than it had.

"Yes," she said, in a flat tone.

"How serious?"

The reply annoyed her briefly. Automatically, she worked out the route of the annoyance, and told herself that other people couldn't be expected to always catch on to what should be obvious, to make the dangerous feeling go away. It also annoyed her that she wasn't going to be able to answer his question properly anyway, because she didn't know what kind of answer he wanted that would get her level of seriousness across. She sighed mentally, and told herself not to wish for specifics, and to learn more about human psychology, and to go meditate later. Then she remembered again about her powers not even being there to meditate on, and… _did not_ feel like kicking something, because she was winding herself up pointlessly, and it was just a useless feeling that was escalating and…

"How serious do you think?" Deadpan. Good save.

Cyborg, for some reason, looked suddenly pleased.

"Serious about what?" Beast Boy had come back from the kitchen, and had a diet soda in hand.

"I think we should call a meeting," Cyborg said.

TTTTTTTTT

"So, Raven, this was your idea?" Asked Robin.

The Titans were all sat around the small table that sat in the centre of the meeting room.

"Yes," she said.

"Well, it's a good idea," said Robin, scratching at his neck absently, "but are you sure you want to do this? Unless you're naturally gifted or something, you're not going to get the fast results I think you're expecting."

Raven didn't speak. She wasn't expecting fast results, _actually_. She was doing this to make herself at least more useful. And, if she was honest, she was doing this because she couldn't meditate, she didn't have powers to exercise, and she wasn't going to be saving the city or doing the obstacle course anytime soon. She wanted something productive to do. She was not going to leave Robin and Cyborg as the two most useful of the five.

_Was that a competitive streak?_

Ha. Maybe. Raven smirked to herself.

"So wait," said Beast Boy. "Is this just Raven, or are all of us supposed to be doing this?"

"Well, I for one am gonna be spending a lot more time in the gym," said Cyborg, stretching his arms out in front of himself in a leisurely fashion. "And it might not be such a bad idea for you and Star to get a bit more…" he searched for the word.

"Able-bodied?" Robin supplied, helpfully.

"Yeah," said Cyborg, nodding.

"What is able bodied?" Asked Starfire, speaking for the first time. She looked around from underneath her red bangs. Raven wanted to frown at it, because it looked wrong. But she didn't.

"Being fit enough to run three blocks after a villain, and still have the energy to take 'em down with your bare fists at the end of it," said Cyborg. Robin raised a masked eyebrow at the explanation. Starfire looked as though she was having some difficulty thinking about that. Cyborg elaborated. "Robin is the most able bodied human in this room," he said, trying to use the example. Star usually got Robin related explanations.

The ex-alien pondered a second more, and then beamed. "Oh, I see!" she said. "Yes, I agree with you Cyborg. It would not be a bad idea for myself and Beast Boy to become more able bodied."

"But guys," piped up Beast Boy, suddenly. "We probably won't be… like this, for long enough for training that much to have any real point in the end."

"I disagree," interjected Raven. "We have no idea how long these effects will continue for, nor do we know when they will reverse. So, it would be a good idea if we made the most of what we've got, and prepare for the worst."

Beast Boy blinked. "What's the worst?" He said.

Raven studied his face for a second. "The worst," she said, "is where we remain human indefinitely, never getting our powers back."

Beast Boy looked ferociously angry, and then appeared to be about to jump out of his chair, and then fleetingly, Raven wondered if he was going to run out of the room or do something spontaneous and equally as… well, daft.

"That's not gonna happen," he actually said, with a little more force than necessary.

"You don't know that," she pointed out, smoothly.

She had expected her comment to end the mini discussion, but Beast Boy surprised her by leaning forwards on his hands and glowering at her.

"Yes I _do_," he said, loudly.

"Beast Boy," said Robin, suddenly. "Calm down, okay? We'll fix this. But for now, Raven's right, we have to prepare for anything. That includes the reversal of your… powers, and stuff, in the next five minutes, as well as staying human for any length of time."

Raven wondered what was going through the ex-changelings head right then. She didn't want to look as though she was looking at him, so she observed his body language out of the corner of her eye. This proved surprisingly difficult to her, and then it occurred to her that maybe, she'd just discovered another aspect her half demonic heritage had granted her. Eyesight, huh. She decided to abandon deciphering Beast Boy for the moment, concentrate on the meeting, and then maybe pick up later.

Annoying as he _could_ be… she didn't like him like this, and didn't plan to allow it to carry on much longer. It made her worry. Worry was an emotion that could easily get out of hand, and was irrational if she couldn't do anything about it. In this case, she _could_ do something about it, and therefore, Beast Boy appeared to be in mental distress, and she was going to find out what was wrong and do her best to set it right. _Right_.

"So I vote we start this as soon as possible," said Cyborg, changing the subject slightly. "If we're gonna get the most use out of these bodies…"

"Right," said Robin. "Okay, how are we going to do this?"

"I can write up a training schedule," said Cyborg. He eyed Robin for a moment. "And you can help," he added, "since you do all this anyway."

"Technically, you _were_ the athlete," said Robin, grinning. "But it will be fun to draw up a routine for all of us."

Raven ground her teeth. This wasn't for fun. Even if endorphins _should_ come in bottles… or did they? She thought of her jaw line, and stopped grinding her teeth. _Just because I can't have fun_…

Self-pitying thoughts never got anyone anywhere.

"Are we done?" Said Beast Boy, somewhat unexpectedly. Raven took the excuse to look at him. He was a little hunched, and his face was set. He had been clenching his jaw, maybe. The fixedness of the skin around his eyes betrayed that he was less than pleased with something. The fact that he had spoken so abruptly, and was seeking to leave, was also betraying that he was certainly not pleased with something.

It was either that, or he had somewhere better to be.

Raven mentally checked off. Kitchen, sofa, his room. Nope, he was probably annoyed at something in here.

"Uh… yeah," said Robin, sounding a bit surprised. "If you have somewhere else to be…"

Beast Boy stood up. Raven watched him leave the meeting room. Then she stood up, and decided to follow him.

"You off too?" Said Cyborg, not sounding half as surprised. Raven found herself giving him an explanation.

"I'm going to see what's up with him," she said, him obviously a reference to Beast Boy.

"'Kay." He somehow made the one syllable mean "Good luck with that… catch you later." Hmm.

She could hear him grinning at her as she left the room. She didn't know how, because she couldn't hear Robin or Starfires facial expressions. She decided that she was making things up, and amusedly slapped her mental self.

She found herself facing an empty corridor as she shut the door, and as she could (once _again_ to her annoyance) no longer… _sense_ where he was… for lack of a better word, she was going to have to take her best guess, and then take the elevator.

Raven blinked. The elevator. She hurried over to it and pressed the button. The doors slid open smoothly, and she stepped in, and racked her brains trying to remember how to do this.

Running a hand down the side of the panel you would expect the emergency phone to be on, she waited until her fingers found a slight bump in the metal. She poked it, hard, and it clicked open. She let the miniature door swing open, and then eyed the small computer screen and keypad beneath.

'72836'. She keyed in her personal key code, that worked on most things in the tower, and the screen lit up a dull green, and displayed a box. She thought for a moment, mentally separating the numbers into groups of three, and the last group, of four. Then she typed '527835667'.

The computer screen fuzzed for a second, and then went back to its empty box display. However, the –2- on the button panel above lit up, and the doors slid closed.

Raven blinked, and was momentarily proud of herself. Then she gently pushed the miniature door shut again, and heard it click as the doors slid open again. Raven stepped out of the elevator, and looked around.

She was in the hallway that made up the entrance to the tower. She padded along the stone floor, passing a couple of benches, and looking around for anything that resembled a Beast Boy.

…No, actually, she only needed to look for _Beast Boy_, as he wouldn't be turning into any animals right now.

She breathed heavily through her nose, and refreshed her lungs. Then she reached the end of the hall.

That meant he was outside. But that was okay, because he couldn't fly. He couldn't have gone anywhere. Raven was rather chuffed at herself. Not only because she now knew where Beast Boy was, but also because she'd used entirely human methods to locate him, and because that meant that she was not entirely helpless without her extra, non-human… _senses_.

She pushed the front door open, and was assaulted with the dying evening light, reflected triple off the seas surface. Briefly, she considered how nice the sea looked in the red and yellow and orange colours, and idly thought about swimming. She missed the thought though, and didn't get around to telling herself off for it.

She saw Beast Boy sat on a large rock, just around the corner, his legs hanging off the edge. He was looking at her.

Oh.

"You're not as quiet anymore," commented the green haired boy. "I heard you coming a mile off. And I can't even hear any good," he finished, turning to look back at the sea.

Raven thought for a moment, and then walked up to him. She lowered herself onto the rock, and sat cross-legged, so that she was facing the same way she was. She went through a few ways she could start the conversation in her head, and then decided that the best approach would not be very subtle, but it wouldn't be overly emotional or anxious. Not that anything she ended up saying would ever come across as overly emotional or anxious.

"What's up with you?" Asked Beast Boy, taking her trail of thought off balance. He picked up a stone, and threw it at the sea. For a second, he looked a little wistful, but then it passed, and he went back to looking moody.

"…What?" Raven replied, managing to make the word sound eloquent all the same.

"I said, what's up with you," He repeated, picking up another, bigger stone to throw.

Raven smacked herself mentally for the second time in five minutes, this time for not being capable enough to converse at a level of minor intelligence.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she replied, her eyes following the stone as it bounced over the calm water, and then sank.

"…Oh." He said. "I should've figured that was all you came out here for."

Raven blinked at him. That comment, she really didn't understand.

"And by that you mean…?" She said, putting some of her weight on her hands at her sides.

Beast Boy was quiet for a minute, and then he picked up a rock that was what Raven considered about three times the size of something likely to bounce. "Forget it," he said, at length. He threw the rock at the water, and it dropped with a 'plop' sound.

He looked moody. Raven felt like rolling her eyes. She decided that that would probably not get out of him what was wrong.

"Is something wrong?" She tried a different tack.

Beast Boy gave up throwing rocks, and started kicking his feet against the rock they were sat on.

"Why would something be wrong," he asked, though it sounded more like a retort.

Be patient, Raven told herself. If you get this out of him, it'll be an achievement. Treat it like… an animal that you're trying to coax into doing something. Maybe like a cat. Cats are hard to keep up with, and they like to do what they want.

"Well for a start, you've been moody ever since I told you that the worst case scenario would involve us staying human indefinitely." Yes, that would've worked on a cat. Raven rolled her eyes, at _herself_. In her head, of course.

"I have not been moody," was the response she got.

She sighed, outwardly, hoping it would help. "Beast Boy…" she started, looking at him. He was still kicking his feet against the rock, staring at the sea. "Something is obviously bugging you."

The rock received an extra hard kick. Had that been a bad thing to say?

"What do you care?" Exclaimed the younger titan, suddenly. "Seriously Raven, if I'm in trouble or something? Then get it over with and tell me. But quit acting like you actually care whether something's freaking me out or not, because _you_ very _obviously_ don't."

Raven didn't speak for a second. She blinked out at the sea, and watched the colours flicker as the sun began to speed in it's journey to the bottom of the water.

"If that's what you think," she said, hoping that it hadn't come out as toneless as she'd heard it. And then she told herself off, because hope was pointless and irrational for situations like this.

"… It's not," said Beast Boy, considerably quieter. The kicking stopped. "I'm sorry," he said looking at his knees.

Raven blinked. Mood swings much?

Looking at him, she thought that he looked younger that he usually managed. It was the skin tone, she decided. Or possibly the approaching twilight playing tricks.

"It's okay," she told him. "So do you feel like telling me what's going on with you?"

"Umm… no," he said, "not really."

Raven pulled a certain face at him. He blinked at her.

"I mean," he said, "yes, that sounds like fun." He narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his nose at her in pretend annoyance, and Raven was marginally pleased to see that she appeared to be about to get somewhere.

* * *

_As per usual, non-beta read, so sorry for any spelling/grammar/otherstuff mistakes that I missed. Brains reading what they **think** they wrote, and all :)_

_BIG THANKYOUS to everyone who's reviewed so far :D_


	6. 13

"So," said Raven. "What's eating you?"

"Heh," Beast Boy replied. "You said what's eating…" Raven looked at him pointedly, "… Okay, okay," he said, changing the end of the sentence. He was quiet for a moment. "Just… you're not gonna go tell anybody, right?"

"I won't," said Raven.

"Well…" he trailed off again, and then sighed. "I… I just don't like it." Pause. "That's all."

"Don't like being human," said Raven.

He leaned forwards on his hands in a pose that wouldn't have looked out of place on a monkey. "Being human. Right."

Deciding that he needed prompting, Raven encouraged him forwards. "Why not?"

He shot her a funny look. "What? Oh, come on Rae, take a guess."

She felt oddly endeared by the shortened version of her name. It was like… a reminder, that this was home. That she belonged here. That Beast Boy thought of her as a proper friend who's given name he had the permission to take liberties with.

"I…" nothing was springing to mind as for her guess, "…don't know. I guess you'll have to tell me."

"Aw, don't make me say it," he groaned, ducking his head. "You cannot tell me that you can't make a pretty good guess. Especially after… that robbery thing."

Raven began to get several ideas… but none of them seemed… _large_, enough, for his recent behaviour.

"Maybe saying it would make it less…" She searched for a good word, but then decided to settle with a gesture. Beast Boy worked well with gestures and body language. He was an animal, around half the time, after all.

He drew in a breath. Raven waited.

"I'm… not… **special**, anymore." He said. His eyes narrowed at his knees. "Yeah. I'm stupid, huh. Now you can laugh at me." He blinked at his last comment, and then looked at Raven sideways. "Or… well… just think I'm stupid…" he said, frowning.

All at once, Raven was hit with a realisation of what the problem was, and a possible outcome as to solving it. She was inwardly _relieved_, maybe enough to smile a little in her head. Although there was probably a little more to it… this bit she might be able to help him deal with.

"You're not stupid," she said. "But just because you're not… green, doesn't mean…" she thought for a second, _almost_ wishing she hadn't started before she'd organized her sentence. She thought around for a way to make it short, but to the point. "What made you special had nothing to do with having super powers," she continued. "What made you special is what still makes you special now – being _you_, exactly the way you do."

_Well_.

Beast Boy breathed out. "… I don't feel very special," he said.

"No one really does," agreed Raven.

"… Yeah, but you just went human," said Beast Boy, before she could say anything else, looking at his knees again. "You didn't go partially blind, pretty much deaf, a weird colour, and lose pretty much everything you were ever good at ever."

Raven thought about that. He thought he had bad eyesight because… maybe he'd not only had the ability to change into animals; maybe he'd retained some of their _better_ senses in his Beast Boy form as well. Yeah, that could explain the hearing comment. The other two comments she could understand.

She thought she'd test her theory, and came up with a question that might help.

"Did all the colours change?" She asked, after a minute.

He frowned. "It's creepy how you know that, but yeah."

"Then there's probably nothing wrong with your eyesight or hearing," she said. "You're just perceiving from the point of a normal, healthy human."

He looked thoughtful, so she elaborated. "Someone without the extra abilities of an animal shape-shifter."

Understanding dawned across his face. "So… you mean I had, like, animal _senses_?"

Raven nodded. "That's what's making you feel… off balance. You don't have the extended and extra sensing abilities anymore, and it's hard to get used to. But that doesn't mean that you're useless without them… you just have to learn to adjust and find a way to make the most of what you _do_ have. Which, looking at Robin as a good example of the species, is quite a lot."

His face relaxed quite a bit. "So… you lost some things that weren't your powers, too," he said, reading between the lines of how much she seemed to relate to the experience.

Raven blinked. He caught her out with her perceptiveness, but she was quite impressed with him catching something she hadn't meant to say. Even if it wasn't a bad thing for him to know.

"Yeah," she said.

"Heh," he said. "But…" His face paused again. Okay, thought Raven, here comes the more.

"…You're still good at other stuff," he said.

Hmmm. And that meant…?

"So are you," she countered.

He didn't say anything.

"Okay," she said. "What else is bugging you?"

Silence for another couple of seconds.

"… But… I'm not," he said, lamely.

"Not what?" Said Raven, when he didn't carry on.

"Not good. At other stuff."

Okay, problem number two. Beast boy thought he had no talent outside shape shifting, and so currently viewed himself as… pretty much as useless as Raven viewed _her_self. She re-ran the last few lines of conversation, and decided that yes, that was definitely the problems other half. She had no answer to that though. Maybe she should just relate. Other people sometimes felt better when someone would relate to what they were feeling.

"If you're feeling useless right now, you're not the only one," she said.

His answer surprised her a little. "Thanks… but Rae, you're getting down on yourself… 'cus I don't think you'd lie to me." She wasn't sure what to say to that, but he continued. "There's no way you'd ever be useless, even without your azarath metrion zinthos thingies." It was very, very weird hearing someone else say that.

"Maybe you're the one who's getting down on yourself," she replied.

The sun set fully, and the last line of light over the sea faded away with it.

"How do you do that?" He said, watching it.

Raven wondered if he was asking how one would make the sun set. So she didn't reply. They sat in silence for a few more minutes as the twilight settled over the water, and Jump City, and the T shaped tower behind them. It got a little chilly, and her stomach was telling her that she was hungry. Again.

She sighed. "I'm going to have to go get something to eat," she said. She left the unspoken question as to whether he would come with or stay there.

"Hey Raven?" Said Beast Boy, as she made to get up. She paused, and looked back at him.

"Can I have a hug?" Well, he certainly felt a lot better, if he was in the mood to ask. There was an undertone to his voice, which signalled that Beast Boy was definitely no longer in a moody mood.

Raven blinked at him.

"What do you want a hug for?" She asked, cautiously.

"'Cus… I've never hugged you before," he said.

Okay. Like that was any kind of reason whatsoever. Still cautiously, she sat back down.

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes at him showily.

He grinned at her, and leaned in to wrap his arms around her torso. She embraced him back, in the manner of one who didn't participate in such activities, _ever_, and felt his chin on her shoulder.

"Thanks," he said, in her ear, before letting her go.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The elevator doors slid open to the empty rec. room, and Raven headed over to the kitchen to inspect the contents of the fridge. She was growing steadily annoyed with her apparently ever-hungry stomach. Three times a day was, whatever Cyborg said, far too often to be eating a large meal, and just the thought of that much food rotting down in her stomach… yuck.

She opened the refrigerator door, and eyed the shelf's contents. She sighed as she remembered that the shopping was due to be done… tomorrow, some time, and that that meant that there would be no edible food in the fridge for a couple of days until someone actually did it. Not having food had never bothered her before.

The thought of _tea_ was not appealing right now, she wanted…

She wanted protein. And carbohydrates.

Well, there was none of either in the fridge. Except for bread. And she didn't want bread. She shut the door and decided to give up, and just go to her room and read a book, and ignore her stomach until it got over it's incessant need for food. Maybe she'd find a book about human biology, and study the human digestive system to see if she couldn't find a way around this… annoying side effect.

Raven headed out of the kitchen and down to the library on one of the middle floors.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Raven? Ray-ven?"

A familiar voice floated over her head. The first two things she registered about her surroundings were the cold, and the peculiar angle she was leaning at.

She blinked, and then realised she couldn't see very well, and reached over with one hand to rub at her eyes. It was bright. She ducked her head until her vision was clearer.

The familiar voice chuckled a bit. That annoyed her. It only annoyed her because she realised that she'd gone and fallen asleep somewhere that wasn't her bed _again_, and someone was chuckling at her for it.

She remembered now that she was in the library. She'd been looking up books on human biology, and… obviously, this body didn't give out warnings before she just fell asleep in the middle of reading.

"Sorry if I interrupted a nice nap," said Cyborg, as she looked up at him, "but I just came down to some of these back," he held up a book about human physiology.

Oh yeah… training schedule…

"… And it didn't so much look like you'd planned to go to sleep there."

Raven blinked a bit more. "… What time is it," she asked, hating the way her voice sounded. She scowled at her sleepy vocal cords.

"About half one," said the ex-robot. He moved to put the books back on the shelves, in the same time it took for Raven to stand up and get her circulatory system working properly again. She had pins and needles in the leg that had been bent under the chair, and she didn't like it. She looked down at the open book she'd fallen asleep on, and decided to carry on with it later. She grabbed a pencil from a nearby pot, and left it between the pages she'd been reading as a makeshift book mark, then stacked the book on top of the other two she thought might be helpful to look at, and decided to carry them back to her room.

Half one. How had she fallen asleep like that?

She glared at nothing in particular as she picked up the books and tried to get her brain to wake up a little more.

"Is everything okay?" Asked Cyborg.

Raven looked around and saw him watching her. "I'm going to bed," she answered, heading for the door.

Once in the elevator, she started grinding her teeth to try and help calm her emotions, which, in her sleepy state, were a lot less easy to organize. She _knew_ humans didn't have as much control over their thoughts and actions near to sleep, and that pretty much the whole world went through this all the time, but that didn't make it any less frustrating to be one of them.

The elevator doors slid open to let her out into the girls' corridor. She paced along until she came to the steel door that had 'RAVEN' written on the outside, and was about to phase through it to get to her much wanted bed, when she realised she couldn't do that. She was tired, and not in the mood. She hit the button that opened her door that she never needed to use.

But it didn't open anything, because, of course, her room was locked.

How annoying. Annoying was also making a side door for frustrating, which, when the two started tap dancing together in her skull, was creating a large open invitation to get angry at nothing in particular. Until something exploded, and she was brought back to _non_-fuzzy reality in which she was _not_ human, and…

Raven dropped the books right then and leaned her forehead against the cold metal door. She was getting irrational, and agitating herself. It was not necessary, and would only get worse. This kind of lapse in control was not good for her. She needed to stop this, now.

She hated her sleepy brain for not being able to come up with anything fast enough.

But the, she remembered experimentally ripping up the pizza box in the kitchen. She remembered the adrenaline rush it brought, and then the tiny calm that had come afterwards that had taken her mind off it. Right. She breathed in and out at the door, with her eyes closed, and then brought back her left hand into a fist and punched, hard, into the steel.

The pain was not as excruciating as she'd expected it to be, but it still hurt, a lot. Her hand started throbbing immediately, but the adrenaline seared through her like the small echoes that were coming away from the point of contact.

And then she felt calm.

Raven reached down and picked up her books, ignoring her hand. It wasn't broken or anything serious, and… to be honest, ignoring the throb was giving her something else to think about, and a bit more of a sense of control.

She felt better.

72836, she keyed in by her door.

It slid open, and she walked into her room, and pushed the button that closed it. She put the books down on the table. She wondered why she had got so worked up over nothing, and decided to blame it on extra stress lately. She also probably hadn't noticed the full extent of the human mindset's alterations to her brain chemical levels, among other things, and it wasn't her fault at all that the emotions were getting more explosive and irrational if her biochemistry had just been severely messed with.

Raven sat on her bed and pulled off her shoes and cloak. Then she pulled back the covers, and went to sleep.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Okay," said Cyborg, over breakfast the next morning. "Here are your personalised training sheets," he handed herself, Starfire and Beast Boy some laminated sheets of paper. "This is day one, two and three, and then we see what happens, and decide on a long term set of schedules."

Raven put her sheet down next to her plate of dry toast, and glanced it over. It didn't look like it was going to be exhausting, but then she wasn't used to training in this body. Yet.

Her activity list was supposed to be spread out through the day, but left time for doing other things, too. She mentally clocked how many hours total this would take up, and decided that six and a half was probably about the same amount of time as most regular teenagers spent learning at school each day. That was okay.

"This is to test your fitness," continued Robin, who was crunching his way through a bowl of multicoloured cereal, "which should be pretty high anyway. And it should give us an idea of how fast your bodies progress and learn, because we don't know how any of you react to new environmental demands in this state, and we can train more efficiently if we find that out."

"Soo… we start this today?" Asked Beast Boy. He was definitely feeling better, observed Raven. Having a talk with him seemed to have helped. She felt mildly good about herself for that, and took another bite of toast.

"Yep," said Cyborg, grinning.

Starfire seemed to be considering something. "Will yourself and Robin be training also?" She enquired, directing the question at Cyborg.

"Of course," he said, looking entirely pleased about it. He thought for a second. "Well… I am. Robin's gonna be patrolling the streets and then just training like he does normally."

Robin nodded with his mouth full.

Starfire also nodded, and then took another mouthful of raspberry milkshake through the novelty straw she'd somehow got a hold of.

"Also," said Robin, once he'd finished his mouthful, "It's Raven and Starfires turn to do the grocery shopping."

Raven swallowed her toast, and decided that that was probably a good thing, as this week she could definitely make sure that they had something that she would actually want to eat in the fridge.

"Oooh," said Beast Boy, "make sure you get some mushrooms."

"We may as well do that this morning," Raven said. She would prefer to get the shopping out of the way, and if they did it this morning, then they would have food for the rest of the day.

Starfire nodded enthusiastically next to her.

Raven glanced at her training schedule again, and absently stretched out her toes. She hoped that this would turn out to be as productive as she was hoping it would.

* * *

_Well... I should probably say something about this here. I feel compelled. I feel inclined. I feel... **the need**._

_But, as it turns out, i've either completely forgotten in all my uploading haste, or I actually had nothing to say in the first place._

_Ummm... please review :-)_


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